Author, reviewer and blogger Amanda Brice posted about the upcoming Freya's Bower anthology, to be published in February 2007. My story, "To the Core," is one of many in the lineup. The anthology is for a terrific cause -- all proceeds go to a women's shelter in Florida.

Check out Amanda's post, and feel free to pre-order either the softcover or the hardcover version.

After a long Thanksgiving weekend in Boston, I can officially say that I am done with turkey. There's enough tryptophan in my system to knock out an elephant for three weeks. My bird of choice is officially chicken.

I'm thrilled to say that all my HELL'S BELLES ARCs are now accounted for -- I'm DONE, baby! Woot! My faboo Kensington promotions coordinator tells me that I should expect to see the Actual Books soon. Squee!

(By the way, my phone thong contest is still going on strong. The next winner -- to be selected at the end of December -- will get a phone thong and an Actual Copy of the final HELL'S BELLES. For more about the contest, please visit my spiffy website.)

Loving Husband, the Tax Deductions and I were in the City That Never Sleeps this weekend (and yes, I know it's Tuesday, give me a break). Officially, we were in for two reasons: One, my dad had tickets to see the Jets with LH on Sunday; two: LH and I went to the annual SFWA reception last night. While the hubby was off male-bonding with my dad, my BIL and I took the kiddies to the Museum of Natural History.

Dude.

You have not seen true happiness until you witness a five-year-old boy staring in awe at an allosaurus skeleton.

And you have not experienced pure hell until you witness a three-year-old boy pitching a fit in the "dinostore" because no, he can't get the $40 dinosaur toy.

You know what? Hearing that people enjoyed my work really, REALLY is the best part about writing. I have this goofy grin on my face now, and it's all because of Suzette.

And Lo -- Another Contest!

So Richelle and I were talking about how we'll need a disclaimer that really, we wrote our succubus stories independently. That led us to talking about the similarities and differences between our two books. The result? A Magical Minxes Contest! Come on over to see how you could win advance reading copies of both our books: HELL'S BELLES and SUCCUBUS BLUES.

A big, big, BIG HUZZAH to Caitlin Kittredge, who was asked if she would like to contribute a story to an anthology...with Jim Butcher, among others. ((fans self)) Holy smokes, Caitlin -- you're playing with the Big Boys now! Congratulations, sweetie! (Caitlin's debut novel, a smoking urban fantasy called NIGHT LIFE, is due to hit the shelves in 2007.)

And, on the antho note, fellow Succubus Diva Richelle Mead and I are also contributing to an anthology, this one by FREYA'S BOWER:

Yeah, you guessed it: Jezebel has another interview posted, this one with the marvelous Jim C. Hines' protagonist of his newly released novel, Goblin Quest, Jig. Brian told me I have to start issuing spew warnings, so here it is: Be Warned That You May Spew Your Coffee When Reading.

Separately...Couple things.

One: While I'm not technically NaNoing this year, I am working on two projects: HOTTER THAN HELL and SCHMOOZING THE ALMIGHTY. The HOT chapter outline is coming along fine -- this one's going to be a killer story. And I'm psyched to say (er, type) that my agent enjoyed the first two chapters of ALMIGHTY, even with the style being way different then that of the HELL books. Yeah, I'm thrilled with these two projects.

Two: My editor should be reading ROAD in December. Me, not biting my nails... My amazing Crit Partner told me that she believes ROAD is even better than HB. I dunno -- we'll see what my editor says. My agent called ROAD a "polished, sophisticated story," which I'm DEFINITELY not complaining about. But still, I'm anxious.

One thing about me as a writer: I can't seem to hold onto my successes (I! Wrote! My! Second! Novel!) for very long; I keep looking at what's next, what needs to be improved, what else I have to do.

I'm a VERY sick woman.

Three: Saw my back-cover copy for ROAD. WOOT!!!!! I have no idea who at my publisher came up with it, but man, do I want to give them cookies! Nope, not sharing it here, but suffice to say that I'm thrilled with it. (Yes, back cover copy before my editor read the manuscript.)

THANK YOU, JOE! (Joe rocks. Many writers I know are avid readers of his terrific blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing. Terrific stuff. And Jezebel will be interviewing the inimitable Harry, of Joe's Jack Daniels Mystery Series, in the near future.

Five: Ah, this one's not a writing thing. I'm (gasp) exercising. Going to the gym. Doing 30 minutes on the bike. Drinking water. Okay, still eating chocolate (hey, this is me, after all). But now I'll be healthier when I nibble my Godiva.

Six: The amazing Martha O'Connor has tagged me! Eee, I'm giddy over this being my second tag. Hmm. Okay, five more things about me...

1. I used to be a rabid comic-book fan girl. I still have something like 9,000 comics, slowly disintegrating in their boxes. The good stuff, too; none of that Archie crap. Superheros -- you know, guys in spandex. And anthropomorphic personifications.

2. Even though I'm one of the worst girly girls I know, I used to have a doll collection. When my dad traveled, he'd bring home a doll from wherever he'd been (which I have to say was really freaking awesome of him). My dolls and I used to play superheroes.

3. I read all the early Nancy Drews. (Again, thanks to my dad, who used to read to me at night when I was a kid.) The only things I remember about them is that Nancy was a fashionista, Tess (or was it Bess?) was working on her MRS degree, and George was a lesbian. (Wasn't she?)

4. Loving Husband and I have this running joke about how Madonna and Mick Jagger are the same person...and neither of us remembers how the joke started.

5. I fell in love with Loving Husband when I was 15. (Awwwwww.) Except he had a girlfriend. (Oops.) We didn't actually start dating until I was 24. At our wedding, the rabbi got the story wrong and told our guests that LH and I were "childhood sweethearts."

So this morning, Tax Deduction the Younger and I are in the playroom, working on a puzzle. My precious three year old is talking to himself as he looks for the right pieces. "T Rex. I want the T Rex. There. There's the teeth. There. There's the fucking nose."

We have no idea where he learned it. LH and I are very, very careful around our Tax Deductions; no cussing around the Impressionable Youts. (Channeling the judge from My Cousin Vinny here.) I'm guessing that Elmo doesn't get into the different levels of profanity on Sesame Street.

Sheesh. Or, more appropriately, holy fuck.

Anyone have any tips on how to teach three year olds that saying "fuck" isn't nice?

Firstly...Magical Minxes has a new look...complete with looks for Jezebel and Georgina! A ZILLION THANKS to awesome artist RAINFEATHER PEARL. Go on, have a look-see...and be sure to check out the Minx Gallery.

Secondly...Halloween was a blast. My Precious Little Tax Deductions were the awesomest super heroes around.A Red Ranger and Robin, in the same house? Ours was the safest home on the block.

As for me, well, I couldn't let the kids have all the fun. What you can't see in this picture is that my dress was too long (shock; last time I was more than five feet tall, it was back in 1987 with the help of two cans of Aqua Net), so I used one of Heather Brewer's Minion pins to pin up the extra. So for Halloween, I not only was devilish -- I was advertising.